Toggle-bolt for installing theater chair standards on ventilator grilles



INVENTORS l'frfiiny 13. M0 r gan E. S tli LA Edward 1". Manna Filed Nov.

STANDARDS ON VENTILATOR GRILLES E. B. MORAN ET AL TOGGLE-BOLT FOR INSTALLING THEATER CHAIR April 39, 1957 ITIII ATTORNEY Unite States Fatent TOGGLE-BOLT FOR INSTALLING THEATER CHAIR STANDARDS N VENTILATOR GRILLES Erving B. Morgan and Edward '1, Marine, Grand Rapids, Mich, assignors to American Seating (Iompany, Grand Rapids, Mich, a corporation of New Jersey Application November 2, 1953, Serial No. 389,725

1 Claim. (Cl. 98-37) The present invention relates to a form of toggle-bolt especially adapted for use in installing theater chair standards on floor ventilator grilles, although the invention may find other applications.

Theater seating is customarily installed in rows of seats, with the adjacent sides of adjoining seats being supported by a common middle standard. The supporting standards each has a front leg and a rear leg, and the feet of the legs are commonly secured to anchor bolts embedded in the theater floor from which the bolts project upwardly through apertures in the standards feet and have nuts threaded on their upper ends.

It is also common in theater construction for the cement floor to have a plenum chamber beneath it from which conditioned air is supplied to the theater through flues extending upwardly through the floor, the open upper ends of the lines being provided with grilles having vents therethrough.

It sometimes happens in installations of the kind above described that one foot of a supporting middle standard will coincide with one of the air lines where there is no anchor bolt for attachment of the foot to the floor, because there is actually no floor at that point. It is the object of this invention, therefore, to provide a simple, inexpensive and easily installed device for attaching the foot of a standard so placed to the grille which shields the open upper end of the flue.

An illustrative embodiment of the invention is shown in the accompanying drawing, wherein:

Figure 1 is a vertical sectional view through a cement theater floor at a point where an air flue through the floor occurs and Where a middle chair-supporting standard is also positioned, the plane of the section being indicated by lines i-1 of Figures 2 and 3;

Figure 2 is a vertical sectional view of the same taken on the lines 22 of Figures 1 and 3;

Figure 3 is a horizontal sectional view of the same taken on line 33 of Figure 1;

Figure 4 is a perspective view of a. special angle bracket employed in the invention;

Figure 5 is an enlarged, fragmentary, vertical sectional view through a grille and showing the device of the invention in an initial phase of its installation on the grille.

Figure 6 is a sectional view similar to Figure 5 and illustrating a more advance phase of the installation; and

Figure 7 is a sectional view similar to Figures 5 and 6 and illustrating the final phase of the installation.

Referring now in detail to this drawing, Figures 1, 2 and 3 show a cement theater floor it) having a plenum chamber 11 therebeneath and a line 12 therethrough, through which flue air may pass upwardly from the plenum chamber into the theater. A grille 13 having vents 14 therethrough is disposed over the open upper end of the flue 12 and is secured to the floor by more-orless conventional means. These securing means comprise a U-shaped strap 15 the legs of which have vertically-spaced registering bolt-receiving apertures 16 through which, and through a cross-bar 17, may be in- 2,796,370 Patented Apr. 30,

serted a bolt 18 having anut 19. The cross-bar 17 is thus secured to the strap 15 in vertically adjusted position depending upon the thickness of the floor 10. A second bolt 20 is passed downwardly through the center of the grille 13 and is threaded into a nut 21 which engages beneath the apertured upper bight portion of the U- shaped strap 15. it will readily be seen that the grille 13 may be made fast to the floor by tightening the bolt 20.

A chair-supporting middle standard 22 has a front leg 23 provided with an apertured horizontally extending foot element 24 secured to an upstanding anchor bolt 25 embedded in the theater floor by means of a nut 26 threaded on the upper end of the anchor bolt 25. A shim 27 is interposed between the floor and the standards front foot 24- to compensate for the thickness of the grille 13 to which the apertured rear foot 28 of the standards rear leg 29 is secured by means of the pres ent invention.

According to the invention we secure the rear foot 28 of the standard to the vented grille 13 by means of a bolt 30, a nut 31 and a special right angle bracket 32 shown per se in Figure 4. This bracket 32 has a long leg 33 and a short leg 34 connected by a curved angle portion providing a rocking surface about which the bracket will normally rock due to the excess weight of the long leg over the short leg from a position wherein the long leg extends upwardly to a position wherein the long leg extends horizontally. The bracket 32 has an elongated bolt-receiving opening 35 through the angle portion thereof and extending into both legs 33 and 34. Prior to installation of the standard, the bolt 30, angle bracket 32 and nut 31 are loosely assembled to the standards rear foot 28 as seen in Figure 5, with the angle bracket loosely and rockably resting on the bolt-head 36, with the bolts shank extending upwardly through the bolt-receiving aperture 37 in the standards rear foot 28, and with the nut 31 threaded onto the upper end of the bolts shank. The standard 22 is then lowered into position, the bolts head 36 being projected downwardly through one of the vents 14 in the grille 13. During this movement the angle bracket 32 is rocked on the downwardly disposed head of the bolt to its position shown in Figure 5 wherein its short leg 34 rests on the bolt-head 36 with the long leg 33 of the angle bracket 32 extending upwardly therefrom. This rocking movement is effected by contact of the brackets long leg 33 with the grille 13, and in this position of the bracket it may be passed freely downwardly through the vent 14 because the short leg 34 of the bracket is of lesser dimension than the vent 14.

' As soon as the long leg 33 of the angle bracket 32 has cleared the grille 13, the excess in weight of this long leg 33 over that of the short leg 34 rocks the angle bracket to its position shown in Figure 6 wherein the long leg 33 rests on the bolt-head 36 with the short leg extending upwardly therefrom. The nut 31 is then tightened against the standards foot 28 thus drawing the bolt-head upwardly and with it the angle bracket 32 until the long leg of the angle bracket which leg now extends horizontally beyond the vent 14 is drawn into tight engagement with the underside of the grille thus securing the standard to the grille. The (now) excess upper portion of the bolts shank indicated by dotted lines in Figure 7 may finally be clipped off if desired.

If the various parts of the structure are precisionmade, the short leg 34- of the angle bracket 32 may be of such length as to bear against the underside of the standards foot as seen in Figure 7. However, it is not necessary to the proper functioning of the device that this short leg 34 so bear against the standards foot.

It will thus be seen that the invention provides a simple, inexpensive and easily installed toggle-bolt for securing 1 9 one apertured element to another, and while but one specific embodiment of the'invention has been herein shown and described it will be understood that numerous details may be altered or omitted without departing from the spirit of the invention as the same is defined by the following claim.

We claim:

Means for securing an element having a vertical aperture therethrough adjacent the horizontal upper surface of a member having a vertical vent therethrough, cornprising: a bolt extending upwardly through said eler'nents aperture, a nut on the upper end of the bolt, and an angle bracket having a long leg and a short leg eonnected by a curved angle portion providing a roeking surface about which the bracket will normally rocl; due to the excess weight of the long leg over the short leg from a position wherein the long leg extendsupwardly ma position wherein the longleg extends horizontally, said bracket having an elongated opening through the angle" portion ther eof extending into both legs, said angle bracket being disposed on the lower end of the bolt'witli the bolts shank passing upwardly through said opening, and said bracket being rockable on the downwardly'disposed head of the bolt to a position wherein the 'brack'ets short leg which is of lesser dimension than tending upwardly therefrom, in which position the bolthead and bracket may be freely passed downwardly through said members vent with said element resting on said member, said bracket being thereafter rockable about its curved angle portion on the bolt-head to another position in which the long leg thereof rests on the bolt-head with the short leg extending upwardly therefrom and with the long leg extending horizontally beyond the vent, in which latter position of the Tangle bracket the not on the upper end of the bolt may be tightened against said element to draw the bolt-head upv l 26 said vent rests on the bolt-head with the long leg exwardly and with it the angle bracket so that the long leg of the angle bracket is drawn into tight engagement with the underside of said member thus securing said element to said member.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 

